Juventus stunned by Sampdoria, Cavani hat-trick sinks Roma

Reuters Staff

4 Min Read

MILAN (Reuters) - Argentine teenager Mauro Icardi scored twice as Serie A leaders Juventus lost 2-1 at home to lowly 10-man Sampdoria and Edinson Cavani’s hat-trick helped Napoli to a 4-1 win over AS Roma on Sunday.

Sampdoria's Mauro Emanuel Icardi (R) reacts at the end of the match against Juventus during his Italian Serie A match at the Juventus stadium in Turin January 6, 2013. REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino

Juve had won their last four Serie A games while Sampdoria had lost 10 in 13 and only one outcome looked possible when Sebastian Giovinco put the hosts ahead with a 24th-minute penalty and Sampdoria had Gaetano Berardi dismissed seven minutes later.

But Icardi netted twice in the second half as Sampdoria hit back to hand the champions their third league defeat of the season.

Uruguay forward Cavani’s hat-trick made him Serie A top-scorer with 16 goals and lifted Napoli into third place as they overtook Fiorentina and Inter Milan. Roma are the league’s leading scorers but have the third worst defence.

Fiorentina suffered their first home defeat of the season, losing 2-0 to relegation-threatened Pescara, and fourth-placed Inter Milan continued their slump as they were beaten 3-0 at Udinese.

Goalkeeper Mattia Perin was the hero for Pescara, saving everything Fiorentina threw at him before Jonathas and Mervain Celik snatched the points by scoring from the visitors’ only two real chances in the second half.

Inter dominated the first hour at Udinese and missed a flurry of chances including one incredible effort from Brazilian Jonathan who contrived to fire wide from six metres in the 54th minute with the goal at his mercy.

They paid the price when 35-year-old striker Antonio Di Natale scored twice and Colombian Luis Muriel was also on target in the last half hour.

Inter’s unhappy afternoon was complete when defender Juan Jesus sent off for a second bookable offence.

Juventus, with 44 points from 19 games, still reached the halfway mark in the championship with a five-point lead over Lazio who beat Cagliari 2-1 on Saturday.

Napoli have 37 points with Fiorentina and Inter on 35.

Sampdoria players celebrate at the end of their Italian Serie A soccer match against Juventus at the Juventus stadium in Turin January 6, 2013. REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino

MILAN WIN

In other matches, two goals by Marco Boriello gave Genoa a 2-0 win over Bologna which lifted them out of the relegation zone and Bojan Krkic and Giampaolo Pazzini scored to give seventh-placed AC Milan a 2-1 home win over bottom club Siena.

Chievo Verona beat Atalanta 1-0 in a mid-table clash and a stoppage-time goal from Amauri gave Parma a 2-1 win over Palermo which left the Sicilians one place off the bottom with 15 points, one below Cagliari and two adrift of 17th-placed Genoa.

In the 68th minute, the 19-year-old got to the byline and fired into the roof of the net from an almost impossible angle.

Cavani set Napoli on their way in the fourth minute when he latched on to Goran Pandev’s pass and fired past Mauro Goicochea.

He added another three minutes into the second half, scoring on the turn from another chance set up by Pandev, and completed his hat-trick by heading in from a corner in the 70th minute.

Pablo Osvaldo pulled one back but sixth-placed Roma, who created plenty of chances, had Miralem Pjanic sent off for a second bookable offence and Christian Maggio added a fourth for Napoli in the last minute.